Authorities: Minn. father shot kids before RV fire

By the Associated Press | October 13, 2011 | 5:50 PM EDT

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities believe a Minnesota father involved in a murder-suicide near the Grand Canyon earlier this month shot his two children before igniting a fire inside their motor home.

Investigators said Thursday it appears Anthony DeHaven then turned the gun on himself on Oct. 3 during a vacation in Arizona. The RV was in a parking area along the most-traveled road into the Grand Canyon's popular South Rim near a sign where tourists often pose for pictures.

Grand Canyon officials still won't release the names of the juvenile victims, their ages or their gender. A spokeswoman for the North St. Paul-Maplewood-Oakdale school district in Minnesota had previously identified them as Jersey DeHaven, a kindergartener at Skyview School in Oakdale, and sixth-grader Jace DeHaven.